WESTERN EUROPE CANADA INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A002000330001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 21, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 31, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

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216 "
bonntial
NOFORN
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Western Europe
Canada
International Organizations
Confidential
No. 0298-75
October 31, J975
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Warning Notice
Sensitive Intelligence Sources and Methods Involved
(WNINTEL)
NATIONAL SECURITY INFORMATION
Unauthorized Disclosure Subject to Criminal Sanctions
DISSEMINATION CONTROL ABBREVIATIONS
NOFORN- Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals
NOCONTRACT- Not Releasable to Contractors or
Contractor/Consultants
PROPIN- Caution-Proprietary Information Involved
USIBONLY- USIB Departments Only
ORCON- Dissemination and Extraction of Information
Controlled by Originator
REL... This Information has been Authorized for
Release to ...
Classified by 010725
Exempt from general declassification schedule
of E.O. 11882, exemption category:
458(1), (2). and (3)
Automatically declassified on:
Date Impossible to Determine
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WESTERN EUROPE - CANADA - INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
This publication is prepared for regional specialists in the Washington com-
munity by the Western Europe Division, Office of Current Intelligence, with
occasional contributions from other offices within the Directorate of
Intelligence. Comments and queries are welcome. They should be directed to
the authors of the individual articles.
25X6
West German Defense Minister Leber
Temporarily Off the Hook . . . . . . . . . .
"Blowing Off Steam" in Ulster. . . . . . . . . 5
West German Chancellor Gets Red Carpet
in Peking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Socialists Gain in Swiss Election. . . . . . . 8
WFTU and WCL Woo ICFTU - Unsuccessfully. . . . 9
October 31, 1975
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25X1A
West German Defense Minister Leber Temporarily Off
the Hook
West German Defense Minister Georg Leber
thus far has survived the so-called Rall Affair,
but some Bonn officials fear that the case is
not yet closed.
The controversy began in late September when
members of the African National Congress leaked
documents, apparently stolen from the South African
embassy in Bonn, revealing that General Rall,
a prominent member of the Bundeswehr, had visited
a nuclear power facility while on a trip to South
Africa. The African National Congress claimed
that this was evidence that West Germany is supporting
Pretoria's efforts to produce nuclear weapons.
Bonn strongly denied the allegation, and
claimed that Rall had traveled unofficially and
without the knowledge of government officials.
Leber, however, had no alternative but to force
Rall to resign. Rall was serving as West Germany's
representative on NATO's military committee at
the time.
Leber himself then came under a cloud when
the influential news magazine Der Spiegel on October
20 published a letter in which the South African
ambassador told his government that he had discussed
the Rall visit personally with Leber, and that
the defense minister had cleared the visit on
an informal basis.
The case took a bizarre twist recently when
the ambassador told the West German Foreign office
that he had misinformed Pretoria and that he had
never discussed the general's visit with Leber.
October 31, 1975
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The West German press has speculated that
the ambassador lied to save Leber, but both the
foreign office and defense ministry have denied
this. The foreign office has also denied that
Bonn has asked that the ambassador be recalled,
and Pretoria has not removed him so far. Leber
has announced that the entire matter is closed.
Officials in the ministry for Research and
Technology fear, however, that additional compromising
documents will be made public. A publisher in
Bonn has hinted to a US embassy official that
the African National Congress has more documents
that, if publicized, will further embarrass West
German officials. (CONFIDENTIAL NOFORN)
October 31, 1975
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Chet Martin
Phone: [phone]
"Blowing Off Steam" in Ulster
The Provisional IRA shot 17 members of the rival
Official IRA within a half hour in the Belfast area
on October 29. Only one victim was killed and the
rest suffered leg wounds in what are known as "knee
capping" punishments.
The reason for the attacks is unclear, but the
Official leadership accused the Provos of permitting
the violence as a means of allowing their men to "blow
off steam" during the cease-fire. The Officials have
said, however, they would. not retaliate.
London's chief representative in Ulster, Merlyn
Rees, told parliament last week that 950 persons in
Ulster had been charged with serious terrorist offenses
so far this year. Convictions for such crimes increased
by 437 over the previous year. Rees said that he was
not detaining suspects and had not interfered with
the police or prosecutors in their efforts to charge
persons arrested.
Rees praised the efforts of the Ulster police,
"who have done an extraordinary job" and reduced some
of the security load carried by the British military
forces in Ulster. He was unable to satisfy one
query, however, concerning the near autonomy of south
Armagh, long an IRA stronghold.
Nevertheless, Rees gave the impression that the
authorities were developing methods f-- dealing with
the current level of violence without the use of
detention. If paramilitary action is expanded to
brigade and battalion strength, however, Rees admitted
that the use of normal police methods would be in-
adequate. (CONFIDENTIAL NOFORN)
October 31, 1975
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25X1A
West German Chancellor Gets Red Carpet in Peking
West German Chancellor Schmidt's visit to China
appears to have achieved Bonn's modest goals. The
opening banquet in his honor proceeded smoothly de-
spite the contrasting statements of Chinese vice-
Premier Teng Hsiao-ping and Schmidt concerning detente.
Yesterday, the Chancellor and Chairman Mao held a
meeting that lasted for nearly two hours, highlighting
the degree of importance that the Chinese hosts attach
to their West German guest.
In response to Teng's harsh criticism of the
superpowers during the opening banquet on October 29,
the Chancellor stressed that Bonn's close security
tie to NATO is the key to the political and military
equilibrium in Central Europe. At the same time, he
reaffirmed West Germany's commitment to improving
relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
The most noteworthy part of Teng's speech, from
the West German viewpoint, was the absence of any
reference to German reunification. Peking's authori-
tative People's Daily did, however, voice support for
the "German people's desire for national reunifica-
tion" in an editorial shortly before Schmidt's arrival.
The article criticized the new Soviet-East German
friendship treaty and claimed that Moscow was seeking
to "perpetuate the division" of Germany. This support
for German unity parallels Peking's own policy of pur-
suing national reunification and helps dramatize the
"illegal" character of the Soviet presence in Central
Europe and, by implication, in Northeast Asia. Offi-
cials in Bonn do not place much weight on Chinese
verbal support because it has little real signifi-
cance.
October 31, 1975
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Schmidt's conversation with Mao began--surpris-
ingly--with a dialogue on broad philosophical topics--
the kind of subject matter that the pragmatic-minded
Schmidt usually avoids. The two leaders reportedly
discussed philosophers Immanuel Kant and Ernst Haeckel,
and the famous nineteenth-century military strategist,
Kar:L von Clausewitz. According to a press spokesman,
the Chancellor was impressed with Mao's mental alert-
ness and power of judgement,and. described their con-
versation as "frank, open-minded, and friendly."
After returning from a quick visit to the Great
Wall, the Chancellor will preside later today over the
signing of a bilateral accord establishing air service
between Frankfurt and Peking. Tomorrow, he will go
to Urumchi, the capital of Sinkiang province, before
flying to Tehran for talks with the Shah. Schmidt
will be the first western statesman to visit the
strategic region of Sinkiang which forms China's
western border with the Soviet Union. (CONFIDENTIAL)
October 31, 1975
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25X1A
Socialists Gain in Swiss Election
The Socialists--the senior partner in the four-
party governing coalition--were the big winners in
the national election on October 19. By picking up
an additional nine parliamentary seats for a total
of 55, the Socialists, remain the largest party in
Switzerland., Their success also stands in marked
contrast to the records of some other socialist parties
in Europe which have lost support in recent elections.
The net gain for the four-party coalition was
seven seats, with one of the three center parties
gaining two seats and the others losing two seats
each. The coalition took most of its new seats from
the four small rightwing parties, which lost a third
of their representatives. The Communists lost one
seat, giving them only four in the new parliament,
and a Maoist splinter faction picked up one seat.
The ma-jor losers were the Republicans and the
National Action Party which dropped a total of five
seats. Dissension in the parties' ranks and a less-
ened concern about excessive numbers of foreigners in
Switzerland, owing to the recession-induced d'-parture
of many foreign workers, probably contributed to the
heavy losses.
The government parties are expected to remain
in coalition with few, if any, changes in personnel.
The election reflected Switzerland's continuing
political stability, with only a slight shift in
voter preferences on domestic matters and none in the
field of foreign affairs. (CONFIDENTIAL)
October 31, 1975
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25X1A
WFTU and WCL Woo ICFTU - Unsuccessfully
Earlier this month, the communist-controlled
World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) held its
first general council meeting in Paris since its
expulsion from France in 1951. The most signifi-
cant: development to come out of the sessions was a
message to the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions (ICFTU), which held its congress in
Mexico City last week. The carefully-worded mes-
sage adroitly conveyed an assumed identity of view-
point between the two organizations on such key
matters as the crisis of capitalism, the evils of
multinational corporations and so forth. WFTU's
long-range strategy is obvious. It is appealing
for increased contacts in the "interest of the
working class" and "international detente" and is
ready to put the onus on the ICFTU for failing to
be receptive. The ICFTU, in fact, does not intend
to respond. and did not bring up the appeal during
its congress.
The predominantly Christian-oriented World
Confederation of Labor (WCL) also held a council
meeting, attended by 250 delegates from 75 coun-
tries, in Belgium on October 7-10. The main
purpose was to discuss an action program aimed at
an eventual merger with ICFTU--a proposal adopted
at the confederation's 1973 congress. The Latin
American delegates--backed by the Africans--fierce-
ly opposed the initiative on the grounds that a
merger between the regional affiliates of the WCL
and the ICFTU in Latin America would be unworkable.
The two affiliates--CLAT and ORIT respectively--
have been bitter rivals for many years and this
situation, of course, is a major roadblock to a
October 31, 1975
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ICFTU-WCL merger. WCL, including the Latin Amer-
icans, is not averse, however, to finding ways to
cooperate with ICFTU on such issues of mutual con-
cern as multinational corporations, Spain and raw
materials policy.
WCL officials admit that it could take as
long as ten years to bring about a formal merger.
In fact, the WCL may not survive that long, given
its present decline as an organization. Its Euro-
pean group was disbanded last year and the major
affiliates joined with the newly-established Euro-
pean Trade Union Confederation (ETUC)--itself thus
far an undynamic organization. Other setbacks
include the loss of WCL's largest Asian affiliate--
with the end of the war in Vietnam--and ineffective
and misguided leadership by subordinates (CLAT
leaders) as a result of the general secretary's
nervous breakdown. (CONFIDENTIAL)
October 31, 1975
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Confidential
Confidential
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